


The Only Exception

by bullshitNovelist



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Art teacher Bunny, Big bro Jack, Founder Family Overland, Human AU, I dont even have words, I'm a horrible person, M/M, Painter Bunny, Shenanigans, Why do I do this to myself, and fluff will be had once they stop being tools, there will also be flirt teasing/flirt wars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-27
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bullshitNovelist/pseuds/bullshitNovelist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which: Bunny's an artist with an affinity for gardening, Jack is responsible big bro, North is playing match maker, Tooth is the bro of bros, Sandy talks when he wants to, Pitch is sick of everyone's shit and Jaime has a crush on Jack's sister. </p><p>Yeah I think that about covers it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter Ett

 Aster just knew he was being punished. There were only so many good things a man could get at once before life decided it was time for a slap in the face. Or a punch to the nuts. With ironclad gloves.

First his art gallery decided that his paintings weren’t up to par anymore, he really shouldn’t have been as shocked as he’d been. They’d been complaining about how everything he made looked the same for weeks. The fact that there was a new and fresh and very talented artist looking for a gallery to set up in had nothing to do with it, they tried to convince him. He didn’t buy their excuses for a minute and blew his lid appropriately.

But no biggie, he could find another gallery who would appreciate his work. He did, but not in New York.

Next he managed to piss off his landlord when he came home completely hammered. He got an eviction notice three days later; honestly he was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. The relationship they had was one of animosity and contempt, to put it mildly. It didn’t help that the old bugger was also highly racist and despised all non-Americans very openly, and took every opportunity to show how much he disapproved of Aster in every way humanly possible.

He had a month after that to find a new place to live, as well as either a gallery or a job. It took him a week to realize that the only way he was going to succeed with both of those was to start calling in favors.

His first call was to North, who he knew owned a little art gallery in some obscure town in the middle of nowhere. The Russian was happy to hear from him, judging by the other man’s tone, and told him that he’d be happy to display his art and also find him a place to stay. Aster told him that he was grateful and the Australian owed him one, to which North answered with suspicious sounding laughter.

He needed to have something other than eventual revenues from the gallery to be able to pay the bills though, so he called up an old college friend. Sandy had always been very quiet and in person he only spoke if he felt he had something he wanted said, but on the phone. The man was a chattering menace over the phone.

Sandy mentioned that he’d moved to Burgess several times the few times they had spoken over the years, and coincidentally that was where North’s art gallery was as well. When Aster asked if Sandy knew of any work that were available in the area, and Sandy told him about several different odd jobs he knew of. Among which was the need for a handyman around a few neighborhoods on the outskirts of the small city.

How was being a handyman even a real job, he had to wonder, but he’d always been good at fixing things.

So at the end of the month he packed up all his belongings and moved out of his little New York flat to move into a small house in Burgess.

The contrasts were painfully obvious.

He arrived in what seemed to be the worst heat wave the town had seen all summer, which was both welcome and heart wrenching at the same time. For reasons he was not thinking about at the moment. Nope. If he started going down that road the very thin thread of sanity he still held onto would most likely snap.

His new house had come surprisingly cheap and the moment he stepped foot in it he understood why. The place looked like a home taken straight out of the sixties, complete with the hideous wallpaper and carpeted floors. The only rooms that had been worked on was the kitchen and the bathrooms, of which there were two. One on each floor, they had thankfully been renovated and had brand new appliances. They only showed him pictures of those three rooms, and he had just assumed the rest of the place looked about the same.

The joke was on him.

Well, nothing some tools, a little paint and effort couldn't fix, and he still had plenty of money saved to fix the little house up. He honestly liked the carpets though, so they could stay. They were in surprisingly good state, a sort of grayish green tint to them, like they had once been green to resemble grass at one point in time. They couldn't be older than a few years, they were ridiculously comfortable to put his bare feet on. And sit on. And lie down on.

The place was a bit bigger than he technically needed, since he was alone, but he figured he could turn at least one of the bedrooms into a studio and use one the ones upstairs and just make the second one on the upper floor into a guest room. In case he ever had any who he could tolerate staying over.

It took him three weeks to get all of his furniture and belongings sorted, and he still had some boxes left but he figured he could leave them in the back of one of the closets for now. Another week went before he realized that he had a house. An actual house for once in his life. Well wasn't that something.

 

* * *

 

Word on the street was there was a new handyman in their neighborhood.

According to the gossiping old ladies and housewives that Jack overheard this new addition to Burgess was not only gifted with the ability to fix _anything_ , he was also an artist and very handsome.

From what Jack had heard of aforementioned ladies and soccer moms’ attempts to flirt with the man, he was also an Aussie with very enticing green eyes. Which made Jack wonder why the hell he was in Burgess of all places. It wasn’t like his hometown was small; on the contrary, the town had grown substantially in the past few years from a relatively big small town to something that could actually be called a city.

Thinking about this made him realize that he spent far too much time with the women in his neighborhood. It wasn’t necessarily his fault though, they’d catch him getting home from work or walking down the street sometimes just to talk to him about the latest. Why they felt the need to share practically _everything_ with him was way beyond his understanding.

He wasn’t really sure if he was relieved or not that he had yet to meet the mystery Australian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I be writing ideas I get in the shower? Hell yes. I have nothing to say in my defense, absolutely nothing. 
> 
> I guess this is kind of a prelude to what's to come, for the record. 
> 
> Also, what do you guys think about Baby Tooth the Siberian husky?


	2. Chapter Två

 “Jack honey, we really need to get you laid.”

Was the first thing Tooth told him when he sat down across from her in the only Starbucks in town.

He stared at her, a small smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. “You offering?”

She gave him a skeptical look in return. “I thought we established in high school that sleeping with someone you consider a sibling was where we both draw the line.”

“Touché.”, he raised his cup of iced chai in silent cheer before bringing it to his lips and taking a large sip.

They hadn’t seen each other in a while, Tooth having gone off on some conference for dental care in the next state over, so Jack had been looking forward to this coffee date. Not having her around was weird. Although if this was going to turn into another nagging session about how he needed to get the stick out of his ass, he wasn’t sure he wanted to stick around longer than necessary.

And he did _not_ have a stick up his ass, mind you.

“So how was your conference?”, he asked, sinking deeper into his armchair and sighing at the soothing cold of his drink.

Burgess usually didn’t get this many heat waves. Ever.

Tooth perked up and smiled brightly. “Oh it was fantastic! I haven’t been among so many of my peers since college!”

Cue dental babble, at which point Jack tuned out of the conversation, letting Tooth chat about various events she had been in at the conference. He knew she knew he really didn’t care about teeth as much as she did, but that never stopped her from talking his ear off about it.

“-and then Doctor Perkins showed us these pictures of one of his old patients, before they fixed her teeth of course, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cross bite like that before.”

“Fascinating.”, he muttered for the fifth time.

She gave him a look like she knew he hadn’t listened to her at all, but it didn’t bother her in the least. Silence reigned momentarily as they both sipped their drinks and relaxed in each other’s company.

“So about that iron rod up your rear.”

And there it is.

“I do not have anything up my rear, thank you very much Tooth.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

Jack made an indignant noise, feeling his cheeks heat up lightly. “Will you leave it alone?!”

Tooth giggled. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”

“Shut up.”, he scowled and took another large gulp. “Seriously, what’s with everyone lately. First it’s North and then you, next thing I know I’ll have Sandy on my case too.”

Though Tooth had taken to pestering him into going out with her regularly during the years, so he was used to her antics.

“Nick? What did he do?”, Tooth tilted her head to the side and raised a delicate eyebrow.

“Nick?”, Jack repeated incredulously.

“Well my practice is next to his shop and we talk you know, now spill it.”

Jack sighed. “I don’t know he just… he keeps trying to set me up with his relatives.”

Tooth snorted and promptly burst into laughter while Jack frowned petulantly at her.

“He likes you, and wants you to be happy Jack, just like I do.”, she said breathlessly when she finally stopped hiccupping for air.

“I know… it’s just that I don’t really want anything, or any _one_ right now is all. I’m alright.”, Jack was aware of how empty his last words sounded, but Tooth thankfully didn’t comment on it.

She hummed and fiddled with one of the many colorful feathers stuck in her hair. “You’ve got some time off coming up right? We should get the gang together and do something.”

“Yeah, last day today and then I’ve got two weeks off. Emma insisted I take time off before school starts up again.”, he sniggered. “I think she’s planning a barbecue.”

“Really? Well then problem solved.”, Tooth grinned and pushed out of her chair. “I need to be going, I have a twelve-thirty to get to.”

“And I need to get back to the diner.”, Jack stood up as well and they walked to the door together. “Swing by the bar later if you get the time, I’m working the early shift.”

“Can do, as long as you make me the Overland.”, she pointed a finger at him as they started heading in different directions on the street, she following the road and he going across it.

Jack chuckled. “But of course, can’t forgo getting my best friend drunk when I get the chance.”

Her laughter followed him across the street, having her back made him feel whole again.

Not to say he was dependant on her being around, because he wasn’t, it was just that she had been such a constant presence in his life ever since they first became friends that her not being somewhere he could reach made him feel… hollow.

He was probably at least a little dependant on her, now that he thought about it. On their friendship at least.

He walked into the diner just in time to bump into a large and very robust figure.

“Ah! It is Jack! Did not see you down there my boy!”, North boomed and smiled widely.

“Oh hah, hah-hah. Very funny _Nick_.”, Jack smirked back and relished in the surprise that overcame the older man’s features. “Just came back from coffee with Tooth.”, he said by way of explanation.

“Oh, yes well.”, the Russian cleared his throat and waved his hand. “I must run back to store, so I cannot stay and chit chat today, I hope you have good last day of work before vacation.”, North stepped past Jack with a conspiratorial wink.

“I’ll try, you sure you’ll be able to handle the store by yourself though old man?”

“Bah! I can get Phil to cover if need be.”, the white-bearded man grinned and waved as he disappeared outside and down the street.

Jack raised an eyebrow, North had never been exactly subtle about his interests and he knew for a fact that Tooth was attracted to the Russian. He could mix a _mean_ drink and Tooth was a very talkative and _very_ willing to reveal things when she was tipsy. Did he take pleasure in getting his friends drunk for blackmail material? Hell fucking yes he did.

For someone who constantly bugged him about his love life, she didn’t have much of one herself. Well, if she was going to be a pain about his lack of a significant other, he was sure to give her some right back.

 

* * *

 

Aster’s next-door neighbors’ dog was unnerving him. To say the _least_. It wasn’t even really doing anything, just sitting there and _staring_ at him over the fence.

He’d been ever so pleased to find that his new garden was sufficiently large and almost immediately upon moving in he started working on it. Cutting the grass, pulling out the old and dead, planting new and fresh and trimming the apple tree growing in the corner of the frayed old picket fence. Maybe he should paint it, white perhaps?

From what still remained of the old paint it had once been a brilliant baby blue, which he couldn’t for a second understand _why_. It didn’t go with the color of the house _at all_ , seeing as the house itself was a pale green shade. Also one of the reasons he bought the place.

Aster was in the midst of planting new rose bushes around the terrace when he realized he was being watched, which was windowed so he could make it into a bit of a greenhouse, to his everlasting delight.

He was wiping the beads of sweat on his forehead away when he saw it. A white and beige patterned Siberian husky with one ice blue eye and one bright green. Just sitting there on the neighbor’s terrace stairs, _staring_ at him. He liked dogs all right, he liked all animals, but this was kind of freaking him out.

It was strange though; he’d never once seen any adults around the white painted house next-door. There was a teenager that he’d noted was usually alone, save for friends that seemed to be perpetually over, but she couldn’t be older than seventeen and she couldn’t be living there all by herself could she? The house was fairly big and looked to be one of the oldest buildings in Burgess.

Tentatively bringing the subject up to Mrs. Bennett across the street when he was over to fix the latch on one of her windows, he’d received a gentle smile and a pat on the shoulder.

“Oh the Overland’s have lived here for as long as Burgess has existed I think, that house has been in their family for generations.”

Which didn’t really answer his question about the family’s teenage daughter living there all by herself, but he’d take it. Mrs. Bennett didn’t seem concerned about the issue, so he supposed he shouldn’t be either.

But that didn’t seem to stop the coiling worry in the pit of his stomach. He hated seeing kids left alone like this.

The dog sneezed suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts. Oh right, _the dog_.

“Gesundheit.”, he was nothing if not polite. Even if the dog was still doing the creepy staring thing.

There was a giggle and a brown-haired head poked out of the house. “I think she’s curious about you.”

Oh it was the teenager. Well, she seemed happy enough. At the moment.

“Curious?”, he reiterated and stared back at the white-beige husky.

It didn’t seem to deter her in the least.

“Yup! See the old couple who lived there before used to let her play in their garden, your garden.”, the girl corrected herself and stepped fully out on the porch to approach her dog. “And she’s generally really curious about new people.”

“So she stares at them?”, Aster’s eyebrows kept climbing higher.

“Basically yeah, she’s harmless though, in case you’re scared.”, the girl smirked knowingly and bobbed back and forth on her feet.

Aster chuckled at that. “Takes more than that to scare me, just not used to being watched so closely.”

The girl snorted. “Oh I’m sure, not like you’ve got about a dozen eyes glued to your person just walking down the street.”

“Huh? Oh…”, he made a disgruntled face.

Certainly he had noticed the looks he was getting more often than not, but it would pass and the ones who made passes at him would get tired eventually and move on. He hoped.

The girl’s snorts dissolved into snickers as she eyed him curiously, managing to look scarily like the dog at her feet.

“Yeah I sorta figured you wouldn’t be the type for that bullshit.”

Aster probably looked like he was surprised because the little miscreant just smirked wide at him.

“I’m Emma by the way, and this is Baby.”, the brown-haired girl pointed at the husky.

Said husky barked happily, to which Aster raised his eyebrows again, but he could feel a smile curving his lips unbidden.

“I’m Aster.”

After an hour of chatting with this ever-surprising young lady while he worked on his rosebushes, he had somehow been talked into joining the Saturday barbecue that the sheila was planning to throw the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue embarrassing friends, drinking, teenagers who are banned from the beer and North's attempts at barbecuing coming up next. 
> 
> You guys got any ideas for what to throw on the grill?


	3. Chapter Tre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so we get an in-between chapter before the grill gets fired up.

Aster had to admit that the beast known as Baby was definitely not as bad as he’d first feared. Contrary to what he had been expecting, the moment Emma had invited him over to – and he quotes “chill in the grass” with them – she had padded over, sniffed his hand in greeting and then very delicately laid her head on his outstretched right leg. He wasn’t even really sure why he’d agreed and why it was so easy for him to talk to her, but he wasn’t going to question it.

In fact, he thought she was probably the first person to _actually_ _talk_ to him since he moved in. Aside from North and Sandy, of course. All other contact he’d had with the people of Burgess was either of him getting hit on by middle-aged divorcees and soccer moms. And dads. Don’t forget the dads.

“Wow! You lived in New York?”, Emma’s eyes almost bugged out of her head they were so wide with wonder. “I’ve been there a couple of times, why would you move away from there it’s so amazing!”

Aster’s smile was bitter. “My art gallery fired me? And then my wanker of a landlord threw me out.”, a shrug. “It’s okay though, I think I probably had it comin’. The glory was starting to get to me head y’see.”

He bonked his own head with a fist, and then went back to petting Baby’s neck fur. It was so _soft_.

Emma hummed and looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. “My bro should be home soon…”, she mumbled thoughtfully and looked at her house. “You haven’t heard people talking about Jack Frost yet, have you?”

Oh he’d heard of Burgess’ notorious Jack Frost all right, in detail. Apparently he was a prankster who thrived with surprise snowballs in the winter months, according to most parents he was a menace for teaching their kids such things, and the rest was from adults who praised his ingenuity. Though that was mostly North.

One particular story was about him instigating a snowball fight that began in the park and then migrated through the city, and finally ended when one kid knocked out a tooth. By a sofa hitting him.

Who even does something like that? Most irresponsible drongo he ever heard of.

“Ah, there’s the face.”, Emma said, and when Aster only stared at her in response she waved a finger around in front of his nose. “The one that says you heard the stories and you think he’s some irresponsible prankster.”

Aster’s eyebrow edged upwards and he did his best not to smile again. He failed.

“Well, yeah. But what idiot goes and starts a snowball fight that winds up in the middle of town? _In the streets_?”, he added the last one when Emma looked like she was going to protest.

The brown-haired teenager visibly deflated, letting out a heavy breath. “True, but it was still epic. All the kids who were there think so.”

She sounded petulant. That was never good. Aster was good at putting his foot in his mouth as it was.

“You would, the adults all think about the danger involved in that kind of-“, he abruptly cut himself off at the murderous look Emma shot him.

“He’s really not that bad, and that all happened years ago anyway.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure.”

She glared at him until he held his hands up in surrender.

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it until I meet him meself.”

She nodded in approval and reached out to pet Baby’s back. “You’ll meet him tomorrow at the barbecue, among some others.”

“What ‘others’ would that be then?”, he had to ask.

“You’ll see tomorrow.”, was the smirking reply.

Aster squinted at her, but before he could form a response Baby sat up suddenly and stared over at where the driveway was at the front of the house. Soon they could hear the sound of a car pulling up to the house and the engine cutting out.

“Oh well that would be him now.”, Emma said as she stood up and brushed her jeans off.

“Who?”, Aster asked once he was standing and started moving towards his own garden again.

“My bro of course, who else?”, she grinned before hightailing it into the house, Baby sprinting in behind her.

Aster stared after them briefly, then shook his head and stepped over the fence. He knew he was tall, but the fence was kind of low anyway. Looking at his brand new rosebushes, pride welled up in his chest. In the coming spring those would blossom a brilliant red. When glancing around his garden he considered what else he could put in it, it would certainly need more color. Maybe some irises would be nice? Right there opposite to the apple tree should be good.

He almost jumped out of his skin when his neighbor’s back door slammed open again and Emma poked her head out with a massive grin.

“I’d better see you tomorrow Aster, or I’ll tell all the single women in town that you’re into gardening!”

And with that she was gone again. Leaving Aster standing there with a sinking feeling that his new friend had the same mischief streak in her that her brother did. Oh this was not going to end well.

 

* * *

 

Jack felt like death Saturday morning – or afternoon was far more likely – possibly the undead kind of death, he couldn’t really tell around the wrecking crew in his head. Why oh why had he stuck around the bar after his shift.

Because Tooth practically begged him to, that was why. But that was as far as he could remember of the previous night. Early morning.

Something was also bumping into his back, and the moment he noted that there was a wet tongue on his neck. Fortunately for his precious canine he was far too out of it still to do anything about it.

“Baby.”, he whined and she instantaneously barked cheerfully and leapt over him to land on the floor very gracelessly.

Only to stick her nose in his face and start cleaning that area of him instead. He pulled up an arm to fend off the love-beast, but then she just started licking his bare arm.

Hold on.

Very groggily he lifted his head, checked the clock on his nightstand – it showed 12.30, to which he mentally _huh_ ed – and then threw his comforter off himself. Well. At least he didn’t wake up overheated, like last time he’d been out and woken up with a hangover.

 _Something_ made a soft snorting snore-y sound right behind him and he promptly jerked, turned around and breathed out heavily in relief. Just Tooth. Okay, we’re still good and he was ever so grateful that whoever undressed him before he crashed had left his boxers on.

He sat up further and pushed at Tooth’s shoulder, she seemed in much a similar state of undress to no-one’s surprise.

“How are you asleep right now? Baby practically barked in your ear. And mine too now that I think about it. Damn it Baby.”

He was muttering and he didn’t care because he wanted to get out of the suddenly stuffy room and get some coffee. Coffee was good. After hesitating briefly in the doorway he went over to the one of the two windows in his room and opened it. Hell if he was stepping foot in there again before airing it out.

Baby followed him around like she had suddenly become his tail, she actually whined when he went to the bathroom and didn’t allow her to come in with him. He loved her; he really did, but come on. If there was such a thing as over-affectionate, she was it.

When he emerged into the living room and looked out the window the first thing he did was wince at the brightness of the room. Seriously, who went and put the sun right where he didn’t want it?

Groaning he rubbed his forehead and noticed with some confusion that his truck was in the driveway. What. How’d his truck get back without him driving it? And was that Tooth’s car?

He must’ve voiced these questions aloud because suddenly there was laughing from the kitchen table, where he found his sister, the Bennett siblings and Cupcake. Oh joy.

“Jamie drove your truck home after you called him and slurred something about driving and drunken or something.”, Emma smirked while cutting up a cabbage.

“Huh.”, was his response as he stumbled over to sort of lean-sit on one of the barstools at the kitchen island.

“And then you called Cupcake and you and Tooth more or less begged her to drive you both over her because you were way too intoxicated to do much of anything.”, Jamie supplied from where he was hacking more vegetables.

“It’s a miracle I even understood what either of you said.”, Cupcake sneered as she fiddled around with the coffee maker. “Even more of a miracle you called the right number.”

“Huh.”, he said again and thought about it, then promptly clutched his head and bent to lean his elbows on the counter. “I think we probably called a whole bunch of people before we got to you though…”

And another burst of laughter. Fantastic. The noise was doing wonders for his head. Not to mention his pride.

“Why do you guys have to laugh so _loud_ ly?”, Tooth complained as she entered the room and sagged against Jack.

“Because they’re assholes…”, Jack mumbled and Tooth mustered the smallest of grins. “I don’t understand why that would wake you up but Baby barking and flailing around in bed wouldn’t.”

Baby promptly barked and stuck her tongue out to breathe through her mouth loudly, which just made him want to cuddle her but there was a time and place for such things. A time and a place Jackie.

“I dunno.”, Tooth shrugged and pushed off of him to take the barstool next to him instead. “Baby doesn’t really make that much noise when she barks, but these four are loud as fuck when they get going.”

Jack nodded sagely. “That is very true.”

“Okay we get it, we’ll keep it down for the sake of your delicate hangovers.”, his sister conceded and dumped the hacked up cabbage into a large bowl.

“Thank you.”, Jack replied with a smirk of his own. “So what are you making?”

“Coleslaw, what else? We’re doing the barbecue today, remember?”

No he did not remember. He recalled her mentioning it a few times during the week, but they’d never established an actual day.

“Your face says you don’t.”, Emma sighed and stood to go over to the fridge. “Well it doesn’t matter, I already invited everybody so you’ll just have to accept it and mingle with people today.”

Jack blinked blearily at her for several moments, before finally quirking an eyebrow at the menacing finger she pointed at him. “Yeah okay, who’s even coming? And when?”

"Just the usual suspects.", Emma shrugged, plucking things out of the fridge to bring over to the table.  "Your friends, my friends."

Suspicious didn't even begin to cover this.

"You invited someone I've never met didn't you?"

His sister's eyes widened momentarily. Bingo.

"Nope.", she was good at feigning innocence, but he knew her tells.

"You totally did, didn't you?", he narrowed his eyes at her, he was not letting this go until she talked.

"No I did not."

"You're lying to me, I know you are."

"No I'm not."

Jack simply raised an eyebrow with as skeptical a look as he could manage while still hungover and newly awake. It was her kryptonite and they both knew it.

"And the new neighbor...", Emma mumbled and started pouring mayo into the bowl.

"The Australian everyone's talking about?"

Emma nodded and kept focus on the coleslaw making.

"Great.", Jack took a deep breath and accepted the cup of coffee that was offered. "Thanks Cupcake... I hope for your sake that our yard won't get swarmed with the soccer mom brigade, Ems."

His sister smiled brilliantly at him, relieved that he wasn't too upset, Jack guessed.

"I think you'll like him, he's nice.", Emma said cheerfully.

"I'm so gonna regret this.", Jack downed the aspirin that Cupcake put out for him and Tooth, clinking his cup with his best friend's.

"Cheers to regretting it!", Tooth grinned, and it looked _just_ this side of wicked.

Jack grunted and glowered at her. "I hate you and your hangover recovery ability."

"And I love you and your adorable hungover grumpiness dear."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be prepared for pool shenanigans and fire hazards up next.


	4. Chapter Fyra

To Jack's everlasting relief the people who showed up three hours later really only were the usual suspects. Emma, Jamie and Cupcake's friends around the neighborhood; Pippa, the twins Caleb and Claude, and Monty. Sophie had left an hour before they started up the grill; she said something about having a few girlfriends over for a sleepover. North came knocking right after all the teens had jumped into their pool, proclaiming to have brought his infamous marinade and several kinds of meat with him.

“You brought _what now_ with you?”, Jack squinted at the Russian from where he was firing up the grill.

North grinned wide and bright. “Wild boar meat. Is good, you’ll see.”

Jack was very skeptical of that, but fortunately they had pork loins aplenty. And hot dogs. Because you know, that was normal to put on the grill. Not… _wild_ things.

“Think I’ll have to take your word for it man, and uh… did Tooth and I call you last night by any chance?”

The white-bearded man shot him an amused look as he started putting all the meat out neatly on the table next to the grill for easier access once it was time to barbecue.

“Yes there was a call last night, from two _very_ drunk young people who giggled a lot.”, was the sneering reply.

Jack winced. “Crap. Sorry about that, we went overboard. By a _lot_.”

“Eh!”, North waved the issue away with one of his massive boar steaks. “Is not a problem, very amusing yes, but I do not mind.”

“I’m doing inventory again, aren’t I?”

“Yup!”, North said cheerfully and slathered marinade on all the meat.

Jack grunted and glared over at Tooth, she was currently relaxing in one of their two sun loungers. It was a little disconcerting to know that she was over so often that she stored some spare clothes and her bathing suit in one of their guestrooms. When North cleared his throat awkwardly Jack glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and the Russian promptly turned back to the meat. Jack felt his mouth twitch at the sight of the other male’s faint embarrassment.

He patted North’s arm, before moving to go sit with his best friend, trusting that the Russian had everything covered in the grilling area. “Just ask her out already, _Nick_.”

Feeling highly satisfied with himself when incoherent grumbling floated after him, he strutted down from the patio and over to the loungers, sitting down on Tooth’s stomach.

She squeaked indignantly. “Jack!”, she managed to shout before her words dissolved into chuckling and they started wrestling around on the piece of garden furniture.

It was amazing the both of them were able to stay on it, even if neither of them were big in stature in any way.

“Oops! Didn’t see you sitting there!”, he exclaimed in mock shock and yelped when she started poking him in the ribs and then just didn’t stop.

After what seemed like an age – but was more like thirty seconds – Jack tumbled over the edge of the seat and landed on the ground with an undignified noise. Sitting up once he got his bearings back, he was met with cackles from the inhabitants of the pool. He grinned and let out a guffaw of his own while Tooth patted him on the shoulder in between gulps of air.

By the time the laughter finally died down and everyone was trying to catch their breath, additional guests were making their appearances. Jack waved as Sandy stepped out onto the terrace and made his way over to the wooden chairs around the patio table, Pitch following close behind. The tall and dark-haired man simply nodded his head in Jack’s direction before he sat down to sulk next to Sandy.

“Oh God, Mr. Pitchiner is here too?”, Emma mumbled quietly as she sat down on the edge of Tooth’s lounger.

“You didn’t invite him?”, Jack raised an eyebrow at his sister and watched as North exchanged greetings with the new arrivals.

Emma fixed him with a _look_. “Bro, I wouldn’t invite my English teacher any more than you’d invite _that_ particular librarian.”

He made a face, ah yes. The forty-something librarian with cougar tendencies and who, for some unfathomable reason, decided she wanted Jackson Overland. He shuddered at the memory of her many attempts at getting him to agree to a date while he was innocently looking through books at the public library in town.

Baby took this opportunity to pad over and sit in Jack’s lap and panting happily, to which he grunted and glowered when the two females in his presence laughed.

“Damn lapdog.”, Jack muttered fondly and started dragging his hand through Baby’s back fur.

At that exact moment he realized he was being watched. By a tanned, athletic looking, grey-haired, and green-eyed dude who couldn’t be any less than six feet tall standing just inside their fence, and that was nice ink. Really, he couldn’t be described as anything less than a stud, even though he wanted to slap himself in the face for thinking it. Because that was, that had to be–

Oh, _wait_. It was that frakking Australian everyone was fired with enthusiasm over. God damn it.

“Jack.”

“ _What_ Tooth?”

His best friend pulled out that damned grin that made him want to stab himself in the neck. “You’re drooling.”

“I am not! And you-“, he pointed a finger at his sister sharply. “are not saying _anything_. Ever.”

Pushing the husky off his legs and standing up, he made it to the stairs up to the terrace before Emma called his name and he turned in time to meet two identical sneers.

“Told you he was _nice_.”, Emma said in an overly self-satisfied manner.

Jack glared at her momentarily and then grimaced. “Ugh, you two suck.”

If they made any more remarks he didn’t pay attention to hear them. Leaning against the terrace railing he managed a smile in return to the one Sandy was aiming at him.

“So what’s new with you two?”, he asked, needing a distraction before he started ranting sarcastically in his head about big-shot-handsome-guys-with-a-cute-accent-and-awesome-ink-with-nicely-shaped-muscles-that-fucking- _everyone_ -went-nuts-about. Again.

 _No Jack, stop it. The sarcastic ranting in your head is bad for you, don’t do it_. Or so he kept telling himself.

“Well, aside from being forced out of my very nice and _air-conditioned_ flat for a barbecue I was neither invited to nor wanted to go to, my summer has been pleasantly uneventful.”, Pitch answered brusquely and aimed a sour look at Sandy, the short blond man twiddling his thumbs innocently at this.

Jack cleared his throat. “Yeah well, I hope you have a good time with us anyway Professor Grumpypants, and otherwise you can always just leave.”, he shrugged.

Pitch leveled him with a withering glare. “I believe I’ve asked you to stop calling me that numerous times.”

“Yup! And I just don’t listen.”, Jack grinned cheerfully, eyeing Baby when he noticed her sitting in front of him.

Looking absolutely adorable in every way. Hah. Like he was falling for that.

“No, you’re on a diet stop it.”, he said and she whined softly but stayed right where she was.

He raised one eyebrow and stared at her until she hung her head, ears falling back and she padded over to her designated corner of the patio where she had a prime view of everything going on in the garden and on the terrace. Why he had to get a dog that was smarter than humans sometimes, he really didn't know. Most times he was grateful for that though. Right now was not one of those times.

"Well, at least now I understand where she gets the staring from.", came an accented and deep voice from his left.

Jack looked over in time to meet his new neighbor's green eyes as the other man came up onto the terrace, closely followed by his sister and Tooth.

"She only stares at people she thinks look interesting.", Jack said and shrugged, putting his hands in his swim trunk pockets.

Emma poked the newcomers arm. "Told you."

"You did.", he chuckled and held his hand out. "E. Aster Bunnymund, your sister tells me you have a way with the grill."

Jack's eyebrows went up of their own accord, he shot Emma a look even as he shook Aster's hand. "Jack Overland, and right now North's the one with _ways_."

He smirked and jerked a thumb in North's direction, and noted with some alarm that the Russian was speaking in hushed tones with Tooth. The alarm came from their conspiratorial expressions more than anything else.

"So the artist found his way to our neck of the woods as well, did he.", Pitch drawled, observing the exchange with thinly veiled boredom. "I recall hearing about your big successes in the Big Apple, _very_ impressive."

Aster scowled at the dark-haired man. "I don't recall hearing about your presence here at all Koz, tell me, did you finally cave?", he glanced pointedly to the side.

Pitch glowered and started scrutinizing his nails. "Honestly I am ever so curious as to what a successful man such as yourself is doing here, in little Burgess where the largest event since the 60s was a snowball fight which turned into a city wide tournament."

He looked at Jack sharply, to which the eldest Overland could only chuckle nervously and rub the back of his head.

"Well you know, the kids had fun."

"It went into midday traffic and a boy lost a tooth, Frost. Because of a _sofa_."

Jack glanced at Aster, to find the other man watching him intently. Welp.

"No-one got seriously hurt, and he got excited for the Tooth Fairy anyway.", Jack shrugged.

What else could he do? It really was only that. Sure, the parents flipped their shit over the whole ordeal, but everyone was fine and they had a good time. Which had been the point to the thing in the first place.

"Yes, yes, that is all old news and has been resolved since long ago gentlemen. Let's give poor Jack break.", North's colossal hand landed heavily on his shoulder.

" _Thank_ _you_ , North."

Aster looked like he wanted to argue, but held his tongue when Emma elbowed him in the side and leveled him with a look that _threatened_. Good girl, best sister.

"Now I have something else in mind!", the Russian proclaimed excitedly, his hand tightening on Jack's shoulder and causing the shorter male to tense up.

Oh that did not bode well at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only Jack this time, sorry! Aster gets the next one. 
> 
> This chapter fought me a little... Because you guys are awesome I cut the one chapter I had planned into two and thank you so much for all the kudos! I really wasn't expecting my little shower idea to take off like this. *u*


	5. Chapter Fem

Aster watched with some amusement as North picked the somewhat skinny white-haired bloke up and threw him over a shoulder, carried him down into the garden – with loud protests from the one being carried, and booming reassurances from the carrier – and headed over to–

Oh. Well.

“Do not fret my young friend! I know just what you need!”, North proclaimed merrily.

Jack squirmed and pounded his fists against the Russian’s back even as he sniggered despite himself. “You know that doesn’t make me feel better! Nothing good ever comes from you saying that!”

Even though the bloke seemed to know North well enough, it didn’t save him from going into the pool. Or being dumped into it rather. The eldest Overland spluttered water briefly before settling into a float and glaring daggers at everyone in sight, while the teenagers and North laughed at Jack’s expense.

Soon though, Jack let out a chuckle and smirked up the Russian. “You guys are all so dead!”, he exclaimed before leaping to his feet and promptly began splashing water at anyone he could reach.

The teens squealed and ran circles around the pool, two of them jumping back into the pool and turning it into an all out water war. North got one face full of grassy water and quickly retreated back to the patio.

“My work is done.”, he told Aster with a wink, going back to the grill.

Aster chuckled at the sight of a drenched Jack Overland chasing a brown-haired boy around the pool, Emma was snorting with laughter in front of him and he could _swear_ he heard some quiet snickering behind him as he descended the short stairs of the terrace.

It had been a long time since he’d been in company like this, the most he had experienced in New York was being made to look pretty for art shows in the gallery, and then forced into interviews. It hadn’t been _bad_ , per se, but he could think of better ways to spend his time. Like painting or fiddling with his plants, for instance. Although there was still a lot of room for things to go sour at this gathering…

“Ah! Emma save me!”, the brown-haired kid yelped and giggled as he hid in between Emma and Aster.

“Jamie I’m not your human water shield!”, the female Overland grinned and tried to push Jamie out in front of her when Jack came at them with his arms outstretched.

“Come on guys, I just want a little hug.”, Jack said, looking positively wicked.

That bloke’s eyes are _really_ blue, Aster noticed right before Emma and Jamie both ducked to one side each and Aster got himself an armful of cold and wet twenty-something man.

Jack jumped back like he’d been burned with wide eyes. “Oh f– sorry!”

“S’alright mate, a little wet wont kill me.”, Aster’s eyebrows still went up as he observed the other male, amused.

“Right well, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go dump my sister in our icy pool.”, was the smirking reply.

And with that he took off after his sister, the brown-haired sheila letting out shouts of laughter while she evaded her brother. Aster shook his head, unable to stop the smile curving his lips as he went back up onto the terrace to have a seat opposite to Pitch and Sandy. The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow at the Australian’s presence, but said nothing.

“So you must be the mystery guest that I have heard next to nothing about.”, said a cheerful voice from his right.

As he turned his head to look a dark-haired, tanned twenty-something woman with broad hips and a slim waist sat down next to him, smiling at him knowingly. _Pretty_ , he thought to himself even as he scowled. And her eyes were an odd pinkish purple shade.

She held his hands up in mock surrender. “Don’t worry, not planning on making any passes at you. I’ve been told that you’ve had a bit of a problem with the local SBM populace.”

“SBM?”, Aster repeated flatly.

“Single Bored Mothers, they pounce at any piece of fine ass that has the misfortune of coming into their sights.”, she shrugged. “But they’ll move on eventually, just hang tight. I’m Tiana by the way, but everyone just calls me Tooth.”

Aster decided that he liked this sheila. “Aster, and it’s flattering I suppose. They just tend to get a bit… overzealous.”

He grimaced at the memory of one particular encounter with a mother of two girls who had probably watched one too many Real Housewives shows. Escape was all he could think about during that so-called conversation.

“Yeah, that sounds about right. I remember when me and my dad first moved her some ten odd years back, and all the single women on our block kept asking me things about dad. I still get the creeps when I think about it.”, she shuddered for emphasis.

“I can imagine.”, Aster smiled lightly, clearing his throat. “Uh, if you don’t mind me asking–“, he gestured at the general area of her eyes, not really wanting to voice the question out loud.

Because that would be rude. So rude.

“What’s up with my eyes?”, she chortled and rubbed the area above one of her eyebrows. “It’s sort of a family thing? At least on my mom’s side. I don’t know what it’s called precisely, but it’s kind of the similar to Jack’s odd hair and eye color.”

Nodding towards the mentioned Overland she smiled somewhat fondly. “I questioned him about that too when we first met, seeing as the rest of his family share the same general features as his sister, and he showed me a picture of his mother’s parents and his Nana looks the same.”

Aster’s eyebrows migrated up and he hummed as he glanced over at Jack, who was now splashing water at a hyperactive Baby.

“We’ve both always been _weird_ , so when he saw me sitting alone at lunch in school he came over and sat with me. Been the best of friends ever since.”, Tooth waggled her eyebrows a bit. “I know you’ve most likely heard a whole bunch of crap about him since moving here, so _that’s_ why I’m telling you this.”

“Ah.”, Aster nodded as she leaned back in her seat, looking every bit like she had all the answers in the universe.

Feeling something wet stain his back he twitched and turned back around to find Baby finishing up her shakedown and giving him an innocent look. Yeah right.

Emma strolled up on the patio and went into the house, Jamie and the husky hot on her heels.

Jack came up after them, a towel draped over his head like a hood. “Fries.”, he said by the way of response at Aster’s inquiring look.

It wasn’t long before the table was brimming with a wide assortment of food, coleslaw, salads, fries, and grilled meat all spread out and everyone was sat down for dinnies.

Jack and Emma came out of the house with one bowl each, Jack setting one with dry fodder down next to Baby’s water bowl and Emma set her potato salad filled one in the middle of the table. The Overland siblings looked almost identical, aside from the obvious differences, Aster noted as the two hosts sat down next to each other.

Idle chatter filled the air, voices tuning in and out as they took breaks to stuff their faces in between conversing.

“So how does that handyman position pay?”, Pitch asked, picking apart his far too big steak in a manner only describable as utter boredom.

“It doesn’t pay, unless you categorize casseroles and having to listen to endless goss about things I have no clue about payment then.”, Aster shrugged and stabbed his meat a little more forcefully than it probably deserved.

Pitch hummed and regarded him thoughtfully without saying anything else. Which was just unnerving. Aster didn’t like it when Pitch had that look; it was the look he wore when he was scheming. And that never ended well for any party involved.

“Stop it. Whatever yer thinkin’ right now, just stop Koz.”, Aster pointed his knife at the man for more clarity.

The dark-haired man across from him simply raised one eyebrow delicately.

“I’ve been meaning to ask actually, how do you guys know each other?”, Jack spoke up and gestured overall to the side of the table where Aster, Pitch, Sandy and North were sitting. “I mean it’s kind of hard not to notice that you all seem familiar with each other.”

“Ah, yes! I was waiting for you to finally ask Jack, I noticed you eager to for a while now.”, North waggled his eyebrows in a way scarily like Tooth,  and smiled when the other white-haired man rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“Went to college with those two.”, Aster aimed his beer bottle at Pitch and Sandy. “And the three of us rented rooms in North’s house on campus.”

“Was the days, eh?”, the white-bearded man grinned and held his own bottle out to Aster.

Aster clinked their bottles together indulgently with a small smile. “That they were.”

Pitch snorted. “You two would think so.”

A few hours later the conversation had lulled and most of the others had left. As far as barbies went, Aster would have to admit he’d had better grill, but the company hadn’t been half bad.

He could’ve lived without Pitch’s snark, though.

 

* * *

 

 

“So what kind of stuff do you do?”

Aster gave him an utterly confused look and Jack resisted the urge to groan. Barely.

“Your painting.”

“Oh.”, the Aussie directed his gaze back to the sky and scratched a temple in thought. “Well uh… mostly nature paintings, the occasional landscape. I do portraits and anatomy when I have the motivation.”

“Cool.”

The grey-haired man shot him an odd look. “Cool? Mostly people snort at that.”

“What? Why? Because you’re this buff dude you have to make manly things?”, Jack chuckled and pet Baby’s head in his lap.

She’d slipped over to them when he wasn’t looking, and he was fairly certain that North and his co-conspirators snuck her bites under the table while he was distracted. If her bowels went crazy again, Emma was walking her for the next week. He was pretty sure his sister was in on the feed-the-dog-on-a-diet. Baby was on that diet for a damned _reason_.

Aster chuckled low in his throat and let silence reign for a minute before speaking again. “I missed watching the stars.”, he said quietly.

Jack glanced at the other man out of the corner of his eye. Aster looked really peaceful. The eldest Overland swallowed around the sudden dryness of his tongue.

“I read somewhere that you cant see the stars in big cities because of all the exhaust… guess we’re an abnormally clean city.”, Jack said and stared up at the canopy of bright dots littering the dark sky.

“Heh, suppose so.”

Baby sniffled a bit and Jack sat up properly to rub his thumb gently in the space on her nose that was between her eyes.

“It’s getting pretty late, I think lil’ Baby Tooth wants to sleep now.”, he murmured and smiled when she made a noise that was somewhere between a snort and a sigh.

“Baby _Tooth_?”, Aster sat up as well, eyebrows furrowing down slightly.

“Yeah.”, Jack stood and saw Emma and Jamie still in the kitchen talking. “She was so much like Tooth when I met her as a pup, that it just seemed right for that to be her name. Kind of lame I guess.”

“No… it’s not lame.”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up at that, but he didn’t say anything, just went over to check the grill.

Pitch was the first to leave – _go figure_ – and Monty and Pippa left shortly after him. Sandy, North and Cupcake stayed long enough to help put all the dirty dishes in the kitchen, and the twins escaped before dish duties were doled out. Tooth ran after North, claiming to have something to discuss with him before he got away – whatever that meant Jack didn’t want to think about – and Emma and Jamie got the prestigious duty of doing the dishes while Jack chilled out on the terrace with Aster.

Which was surprisingly… nice. He didn’t really know what he’d been expecting of his new neighbor, Jack guessed because of all the rumors he thought the Australian was some obnoxious hot shot who had _graced_ them with his presence.

Opening the lid to their coal fueled grill he let out an annoyed sigh. “Damn it.”, there was still a glow in there, which meant he had to clean in the day _after_. Which was just irritating, he didn’t want to have to do anything tomorrow. He just wanted to sleep for once. It would’ve been so much better if he could’ve just got the ashes out and cleaned the thing right then.

He released a heavy breath. Oh well. Couldn’t get everything at once. He still had two weeks off, which was _awesome_.

Suddenly there was a loud and shrill noise from in front of the house, it sounded suspiciously like an air horn. What the hell. He didn’t get any time to ponder the presence of one in proximity to his house this time of year however, because there was a big, furry and yelping weight colliding with his front and causing him to topple over.

And into the grill. Naturally.

Searing pain went through his left shoulder and then the air was knocked out of his lungs when he landed on his back.

“Motherf-!”

“Crikey! You alright mate?”

He had one vibrating husky on his chest and a hand on his shoulder, and when he opened his eyes – when had he closed them – and Jack had one very concerned looking Aster next to him.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine. Fuck that hurts…”, Jack pet Baby’s head and neck reassuringly at the same time as he tried to reach back to his left shoulder to assess the damage.

He was less than successful.

“What the hell just happened?!”, Emma came out of the house and froze when she saw he brother on the floor.

“Some moronic douche bag blew an air horn, did you really not hear it?”, Jack scowled up at her, finally managing to coax Baby off of him. Only for her to whine and then scamper off into the house.

“Oh…”, she looked positively guilty.

Okay, what?

“What were you two doing in there?”, Jack queried with narrowed eyes, Jamie had come out shortly after Emma and both teens looked like deer in headlights.

Aster looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or get himself some popcorn.

“Doing the dishes…”, Emma said, staring at her feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world.

This was so far from what she was normally like that it was hilarious.

“Oh really? I find that kinda hard to-“, he cut himself off when something hit him.

A smell to be precise. Hold up. Was that-?

Jack stood up as quickly as his frustratingly wobbly legs would allow. “Anyone else smell smoke?”

Aster’s eyes went comically wide and he looked over at his own house, and his eyebrows went impossibly higher. He made a sound like an enraged walrus, which Jack would’ve laughed at and told him at any other time. Jamie was already getting a bucket and filling it in the pool when Jack finally saw it.

Mr. Bunnymund’s rosebushes were on fire.

“ _Shit_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh. Me thinks this story is developing a mind of it's own. 
> 
> I was thinking that if you guys have any requests for things to happen, send me an ask or something on tumblr. My thing is on le profile, I'm too lazy to put it here. I'm running a little low on ideas at the moment y'see.


	6. Chaper Seis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bunny's plants are his babies. That is the only excuse I can really make for anything.

Aster was seeing red. He didn’t care that it was a freak accident, involving an air horn, a panicking dog and ember that _did not_ belong in his border of flowers. It didn’t matter to him that the current heat wave was causing a drought and making most plant life wither down and dry up, or that his former rosebushes had turned into charred stalks within the span of a minute wasn’t really anyone’s fault.

_Nobody_ harmed a Bunnymund’s plants and got away scot-free.

He’d gotten most of his yelling done while they were putting the flames out, so now he was just staring mournfully at his poor rosebushes with clenched fists and tried to reign himself in before he started taking his fury out on unsuspecting bystanders.

“Damn, at least the fire only got the bushes though, right?”

Such as that one.

Aster twitched and laughed mirthlessly, it sounded hollow even to his own ears. “I just _had_ to get the house with the town’s most irresponsible galah next-door, didn’t I.”, he muttered under his breath.

Jack was quiet. Probably didn’t have anything to say in his defense, Aster figured.

Emma and Jamie had fled back inside when they were certain the fire was out. Her brother was “ _really not that bad”_ his arse. Aster suddenly felt so incredibly _tired_ when he gave his poor roses a last glance before turning around to go home.

Because this was his home now, wasn’t it? Would he have to stand more of this larrikin’s antics, or was this the sum of it? From what Aster had have to hear it seemed as though Frost was very good at causing trouble for those close to him. He wasn’t one to listen to gossip much usually, but seeing as most people he asked or willingly shared information about the eldest Overland said just about the same things.

And continuity meant truth, didn’t it?

He felt exhausted, not so much physically as emotionally. New York had been nice; he’d had a routine there, no surprises and a decent lifestyle. He could life off selling his painting and doing the occasional mural, he didn’t have much of a love life but that was fine. As long as he could paint and keep filling his apartment with new and exciting vegetation he was good. It hit him like a bag of bricks then.

He missed Australia.

Or wait, no. Maybe not so much Australia as a whole, but the feeling of being _home_. He hadn’t felt at home since he moved out of his parents’ house, and that was somewhere around eighteen years ago. Moving in with his girlfriend of three months when he was seventeen hadn't been one of his smarter choices.

Getting back to the present he put a hand on the door to his terrace and glanced back at the still silent and unsure looking Jack. Seeing the white-haired bloke wrath ignited in Aster again, recalling conversations past about kids playing with snow in dangerous places and ice skating in the middle of the street.

"You just attract messes wherever you are, don't you?"

Aster hadn't actually meant to say it out loud, but it got away from him before he could stop it.

Jack looked like he'd been punched. "I didn't-!", he started arguing, and probably wanted to more than anything, but he paused abruptly and then gradually closed off.

The lad swallowed visibly, his Adams apple bobbing, looking more and more vulnerable by the second. It didn't suit him to look like that, and Aster's heart lurched and he felt so guilty because _why_ the bleeding hells did he _say_ that?

"Yeah... I guess I do.", it was a barely there whisper, but Aster heard it.

He wanted to reach out, but the damage was already done and Jack was moving to walk stiffly back up onto the patio and into the Overland house.

Aster groaned and thumped his head against the doorframe. "Lovely."

 

* * *

  

Three days. It took Jack’s sister three days to get him to agree to a peace-offering-plan.

He absolutely _did not_ sulk, no matter what Emma said that was _not_ what he was doing. Licking his wounds is closer to what he was doing for those three days than anything she may have teased him about.

It wasn’t like he deliberately tried to cause mischief all the time. More often than not trouble seemed to find him and then _stick_ like glue for years to come. Seriously, that snowball fight? He was seventeen, bored and had a bunch of minions who were just as bored. All he did was push things in the direction of snowballs and ice tracks and they’d been all over that. Amazing day didn’t even begin to cover it.

Then of course there was the matter of the couch meeting with Jamie’s mouth in a very rough way. But then, he hadn’t seemed to mind much and he didn’t even cry!

And okay, air horns and Baby did not mix well. She hated loud noises more than anything in the world. Aside from maybe pushy old hags with no sense of where the husky liked and definitely _did not_ like being touched.

It hadn’t even been his fault! Sure he was the one who crashed into the grill and caused the damned fire in the first place, but come on. It was like the universe conspired to give him crap for practically everything…

And what that Kangaroo said? Totally uncalled for. Jack said as much to Emma during breakfast Tuesday post-noon.

His sister looked up at him skeptically over her pancakes. “Kangaroo? And it’s not like he’s wrong bro.”

Okay, ouch. “You wound me lil sis, and I think it fits. Kangaroo’s do the sucker punch thing, and Aster seems to be a fan of that too.”

“Stop sulking. I thought you were over this ages ago, no one actually cares about the bullshit you pulled when you were a kid. They just like gossiping about stuff like that to make themselves seem so much better to new people. You just have the misfortune of having more crap on your record than anyone else in town.”, Emma said all this very matter-of-factly while gesturing with her fork.

“I don’t sulk…”, Jack said.

And he was not pouting, that was just his face.

“Sure you don’t.”, she patted his hand indulgently and stabbed a slice of her pancake to stuff her mouth with.

The display made Jack quirk an eyebrow at her. “Your ladylike manner continues to baffle me.”

Emma scowled and promptly flipped him off. “I’m not the one who has to replace the neighbors roses.”

“Okay, that? Not my fault. The only reason I even agreed in the first place was to get you off my back.”

His sister had been following him around almost constantly, and when she wasn’t nagging at him she was checking in on their neighbor, and what the hell was that about? Since when were those two friends?

Emma kept telling him about how Aster was grumpier than Jack, and Jack was being cranky as fuck. To which he had answered that she could kindly go suck an egg. Of course she didn’t, on the contrary she kept telling him about how their neighbor had told her that he’d wanted to clear out the charred remains of the rosebushes but that he just couldn’t bring himself to yet.

This was when the brilliant peace-offering-plan came into being.

“We all know it wasn’t your fault, but someone has to be a responsible adult about this and it’s pretty clear that Bunny isn’t gonna pull his head out of his ass any time soon unless we do something about it.”, Emma said and chugged the rest of her tea before standing up and putting her dishes in the sink.

Jack’s eyebrows went up and his lips curved up slowly. “Bunny?”

His sister shrugged. “Sure, why not? I mean his last name is _Bunny_ mund for crying out loud.”

“True enough.”, Jack conceded as Emma started heading down the hall to go upstairs to her room, no doubt. “I’m telling him about that, just so you know!”

“Fine with me, I’ll tell him that you’re calling him Kangaroo!”

Jack chuckled as he went about clearing the table and getting things into the dishwasher. He had to be the responsible adult? Hm. That would contradict everything that people seemed to think of him, wouldn’t it? Well, he loved to be contradictory.

He was just about to head to his own room to locate his favorite hoodie – the heat wave was over and the temperatures had started plummeting _finally_ – when the doorbell rang and he froze mid-step. Uh. They were expecting company?

Glancing at the clock he determined that it was far too early for Tooth to be making any surprise visits. Same with North. And Sandy. And Pitc- hold on, no _what_. Pitch doesn’t visit unless Sandy _physically_ drags him along, so dropping that thought like a bag of screaming rats.

When he opened the door his stomach felt weird and his eyes may have been pretty damned wide. Aster was standing on his porch with his arm stretched out like he was about to ring the bell a second time before the door opened. The Australian had a similar look of caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

“I didn’t take that long.”, Jack muttered, nodding at Aster’s still outstretched arm when the other man didn’t seem to get it.

Aster cleared his throat and dropped his arm. “What do you want?”

Jack scowled. “I don’t want anything.”

“What? But you left a note-“

“Out the way!”, Emma pushed Jack into the doorframe to squeeze out and run down to the sidewalk.

Ah. Jack and Aster looked first at each other and then at Emma in realization.

“And where are you going then young lady?”, Jack asked, cocking a hip and putting a hand on it.

“We’re going to the pond! You two play nice now, and have dinner ready by six bro!”

And she was gone.

Jack hummed in annoyance. “If that girl gets any more demanding she’s gonna turn me into a maid, I just know it.”

“A maid?”, Aster’s face was on the verge of scandalized. Adorable.

No, _no_ , nope, not going there.

“Yeah, we used to play dress up a lot as kids and she called _all_ the shots man. All of them.”, crossing his arms over his chest Jack leant his right shoulder against the doorframe. Lefty's still a bit sore. "She tells me that if she had it her way I'd be her personal handmaid, all dressed up in black and white and all that jazz. I think she says it to get under my skin, but she's underestimating my endurance in that department. Just a bit."

Holding up his thumb and index finger with barely a millimeter apart and squinting at the other man, Jack finally noticed the look Aster was giving him. Curious. Not like he was nuts and just a few screws short of hanging out in the loony bin, like most people do when he opens his mouth. No, Aster was just gazing at him with a serenely intrigued expression.

Which was, what? What did _that_ mean?

Jack cleared his throat awkwardly. "So about the note..."

"Oh.", Aster's countenance sobered, taking the aforementioned piece of paper out and handing it to Jack. "Found it on my door step when I was going to check the mail this morning, said to come over some time after noon because you wanted to tell me something. I thought it was a strange way to ask someone over..."

"Yeah, it's got Emma's schemes written all over it.", Jack muttered after he'd read it over, he sighed and ran a hand through his hand. "Sorry about your roses..."

Aster's eyes widened again, and then his expression softened into that same curious look. "Accidents happen..."

"So does that mean you're over i-? Yeah okay no, you're not.", Jack hastily amended when a glare was shot his way. "What I mean to say I guess is that uh... If you're not busy we can go to the nursery and I'll pay for new ones. If you want."

It was a long minute between Jack's suggestion and Aster's reply, it made Jack want to crawl out of his own skin and bury himself under a mountain. When the Australian responded it was clear that it was with some reluctance.

"That would be... good."

Why was Jack getting the feeling that Emma had some kind of hand in Aster's acceptance too?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Ahem. 
> 
> Hopefully most of the drama is done and we can get down to the more interesting things very soon. Such as the flirt war. Personally I'm really looking forward to that.


	7. Chapter Sju

Damn her. Damn Emma and her, her… _ways_!

Frankly if the youngest Overland hadn’t asked and pleaded and bloody _puppy-dog-eyed_ him into agreeing to whatever it was Jack wanted to ask him, he wouldn’t have accepted. Probably.

Maybe?

So there he was, sitting in the awkward silence of Jack’s white truck and going to the nursery with the same bloke who knocked over a grill, causing it to scatter amber over into Aster’s garden. It was a miracle that the fire left his house untouched.

Shaking his head to clear it he gazed out the window, no point in dwelling on it. The very rare type of red roses he’d gotten were dead and he was now being taken to get new ones. It was highly unlikely that they had any more of them, but hey free roses right?

It was fairly obvious that the lad’s twitching fingers on the steering wheel and shifting eyes and occasional mouth opening was because he still felt the need to apologize. Well… it really hadn’t been Jack’s fault, had it?

Aster had taken some time to settle down during the past few days, letting reasoning and logic straighten out his head. His temper was something that always got away from him, and putting his foot in it seemed to have become something of habit since he moved to Burgess. _Bad_ habit, very bad.

When Jack opened and closed his mouth for the fifth time in three minutes Aster sighed and scratched his neck.

“Stop beating yourself up about it lad, nothing any of us could’ve done to prevent it I’d wager. How’s Baby doin’?”

The white-haired man’s eyebrows furrowed down slightly, but his rigid posture and white-knuckled grip on the wheel relaxed.

“She’s alright, sudden and sharp noises is the bane of her everything, she’s was bit jumpy for a couple days after but she’s good now.”, Jack smiled a little and glanced at Aster out of the corner of his eyes. “You’re really attached to your plants, huh?”

This lad didn’t seem to have much of a survival instinct, though Aster had to grudgingly admire his guts.

“Yeah… I suppose you could compare it to your attachment to Baby.”

“Oh.”, Jack’s eyes widened and his hands gripped tighter on the steering wheel again.

 _Way to go making the bloke feel better Aster_ , he berated himself bitterly.

“Listen mate, just… let’s just get the new roses and move on, yeah?”, Aster grit his teeth after saying it, but he said it. And that’s what counted.

The grudges he sometimes maintained were brutal – _he had been made aware_ – and Jack hadn’t done anything that earned the sort of treatment he reserved for people he gave less than zero fucks for.

It was fortunate that they had stopped at a red light, what with the driver staring at the passenger with a discombobulated look on his face. Jack didn’t speak until they were moving down the road again.

“I’ll do you one better and help you plant them too when we get back home.”

Aster’s eyebrows edged upwards and when he looked over at Jack the snow-haired lad had the smallest of smiles on his lips. Humming an affirmative Aster kept peeking at the eldest Overland, he wasn’t entirely certain why but Jack kept making him curious.

Perhaps it was time Aster swallowed his pride and made some new friends. Not counting Emma, that girl practically forced herself into his life. Though he found himself not minding as much as he might have a month or two back. He really wasn’t very good at making friends. Most people just didn’t interest him, any fling he may have remained only that. North, Pitch and Sandy he befriended almost out of inevitability, living together for several years and not becoming closer than housemates with those three was impossible.

He’d tried.

When he started college he had no real desire to make a connection there, with people. He was a loner by choice, and that was the way he liked it.

And then he met North. Who in turn introduced him to Sandy, and later Kozmotis. That marked the end of his lonely college boy days, seeing as North wouldn’t take no for an answer, Sandy would just follow him around sighing miserably until he agreed to whatever thing it was the short blond wanted Aster to join in on. Pitch was – well – at the time the only sane person in the world that he could really talk to. Talking usually meant sniping at each other until they were both satisfied and then they just… _were_. There was talking sometimes, but most times they were just quiet in one another’s company.

He missed that, in all honesty. Having friends close was… he’d forgotten how nice it could be in middle of his painting taking off and suddenly gaining upper class fans. Which had been nothing but bizarre.

Jack killed the engine once they had found a parking spot in the lot of the town’s sole shopping mall. The nursery – _thank the stars above_ – was in a separate building next to the large store complex.

“Well then, let’s go make my wallet cry!”, Frost exclaimed cheerfully as he exited the vehicle and Aster followed his lead out of the car so Jack could lock it.

“Frankly I’m intrigued to see your attempt at gardening.”, Aster mused, rubbing his chin in a manner similar to how he’d seen North stroke his beard countless times when the Russian was scheming.

Jack smirked and pushed at Aster’s arm in retaliation. “Oh shush, I used to work part time here actually.”

“At the nursery? With _plants_?”

“ _Yes_ with plants you bonehead, why is that so hard to believe?”

Aster wasn’t really sure why himself, just that Jack’s appearance made it seem like he’d be more winter-y that the green fingered type.

“It’s the hair, isn’t it?”, Jack reached a hand up and ruffled said hair.

“Are you a mind reader?”, Aster countered as they entered the rather big plant nursery.

It was like walking into heaven. Everything was green, and it was fabulous.

 

* * *

 

The Kangaroo seemed be to enjoying himself. _A lot_.

It was almost verging on creepy, the way Aster was staring at everything they walked by to get to the section dedicated solely to roses. And boy did they have roses. There were red ones, white ones, little teeny tiny bushes and larger almost shrubs sticking up in dirt filled pots like trees.

Jack felt like doom was imminent when a worker came over to them – she was new, obviously, because she didn’t greet him like the ordinary workers did and essentially ignored him in favor of chatting up his companion, which hello, _rude_ – and asked Aster if the Australian wanted to take a look at their rare supply and Aster almost instantly picked one of the most expensive ones. When Jack grumbled about the price while paying, Aster just smiled and said that you couldn’t put a price on the living, that he had to pick with his heart and not his bank account.

Which was all well and good for the Kangaroo, considering it was _Jack’s_ account that would be suffering from this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Aster way to go heavy on the monologue.  
> This is a lot shorter than I intended... but I got sidetracked by emotional bullshit. Which will hopefully not happen again any time soon.  
> I'm sorry for the lack of chaos between Jack and Bunny, I need to work on my disaster making skills. Hopefully they'll come around for the snow season. 
> 
> Is it just me or is everyone scheming in this thing?


	8. Chapter Åtta

Two and a half hours.

They spent two and half hours in the nursery before Jack had to _literally_ **drag** Aster out of there because the place was _closing_. During the first hour Jack observed as the worker girl tried to chat up Aster, but eventually left them alone in a huff because she finally got a clue and realized that the man was more interested in the greenery around them than her pouty lips.

Having already loaded the roses on Jack’s white pickup, Aster went the fuck back inside and then proceeded to walk around the entire complex to check out everything they had in stock, and – certainly – Jack was a fan of plants, but enough was _enough_. Once they were back in Jack’s truck and he looked over to his passenger when he was pulling out of the parking lot, Aster wore the appearance of a child whose favorite toy had been taken away.

Fudge nuggets.

“You can always just go back there some other time you know.”, Jack muttered in an attempt to ease the mood.

Aster… blinked and stared at the road for a minute – like that thought hadn’t even crossed his mind – then he huffed and crossed his arms over his chest like a petulant kid. Which was utterly ridiculous, but at least he wasn’t ogling the rearview mirror in hopes he could still see the nursery anymore.

“You have a weird relationship with plants and places that sell them.”

Neither stroke up conversation after that, until they were unloading Aster’s new roses from Jack’s truck and hauling them into the Kangaroo’s garden. Three very _expensive_ rosebushes, goddamn it. Jack didn’t know how many a person could curse their luck in one lifetime, but he felt like he was doing it in an endless loop.

“Start clearing out the old ones and I’ll get us some water.”, Aster said, turning to go to the front of the house.

“Yes, because dehydration is the enemy here.”, Jack nodded in agreement, shooting Aster a grin when the Australian glanced back.

Aster gave a short bark of laughter, disappearing around the side of the house and Jack set to work with pulling the black and dead rose stalks up. He was pleasantly surprised to find a tiny little green seedling hidden away underneath all the death, Jack thought about telling Aster about this but decided to keep it to himself.

The Kangaroo could probably use one or two nice surprises in the coming spring after spending several months in Burgess.

Not to say that Burgess in itself was a bad place to live, just that... some days he just wanted to cover everything in snow and _make_ people have fun.

Jack managed to clear out the dead bushes and finish putting one in the ground – successfully hiding the little seedling so it could grow in it’s own time, _hush it’s a secret!_ – and was in the process of preparing a sufficient hole in the dirt for the second bush when Aster opened the terrace door and came out with a pleased grin on his face.

“North just called.”

Jack froze in the middle of lifting the plant up off the ground and raised an eyebrow. “Great?”

"First art exhibition is in two months.", if Aster sounded any more excited Jack thought the man may have even squee-d.

"Good for you dude, what are you gonna put in it?", Jack put the plant in the hole and then looked up thoughtfully. "On it? For it? How is that even specified?"

Aster waved a hand, as if to wave the entire issue away. "Doesn't matter, and I have a few pieces in mind for it yes."

"Cool, anything you might give a preview for your handsome new neighbor?", Jack waggled his eyebrows playfully and Aster choked a bit before letting out a chuckle.

He hadn't actually expected to get a tour of Aster's place for it, but there he was once they were finished planting the _expensive_ new roses. In his Australian painter neighbors impromptu studio.

And okay, he could totally see how the guy had been popular in New York. The walls were essentially covered with different types of painting, oil, acrylic, sketches and even some digital printouts but those were far fewer. Most of the actual paintings were of landscapes, gorgeous mountain ranges and meadows filled with light from a setting or sometimes rising sun, waterfalls in a rainforest with colorful birds of paradise weaving through the air or sitting on branches and rocks close to the water and majestic garden scenes of all kinds. The sketches were mainly of flower designs and shapes, but there were a few people hidden away here and there.

Aster was looking at him with a mix of expectation and was that _trepidation_?

"You... you are like a god of all things nature man.", Jack finally settled on saying, because what else could he possibly say.

Nothing, that's what.

The Australian shone up like a beacon and stepped up to one of  the meadow paintings, the one where it's night and fireflies were scattered all across the flowers in it.

"This is one of the ones I thought I'd put up, along with a few others with similar themes.", Aster said, gesturing to one wall where most of the paintings were of different nightly scenes.

"Because it'll be autumn so the days are getting darker?"

"More or less."

One of them was of an ice covered lake with a forest surrounding it, trees naked but for the layer of snow and the moon and stars were shining right above, reflecting in the mirror like surface of the ice. Jack touched the material gingerly, marveling at the beauty of what he was seeing. It was amazing. He decided that this was his favorite of all of Aster's works, because he knew this.

The ice and snow, it was something he knew and loved.

"Figured you might like that one.", Aster mumbled, and when Jack glanced at him the man was smiling gently.

For some reason that made Jack want to run and hide somewhere, and he really didn't want to analyze that. At all.

"Well you know, my nickname _is_ Jack Frost.", he replied somewhat bitterly.

"Yeah I've been meaning to ask about that."

Jack let out a short laugh. "I'll bet... I don't really know where it came from, I guess because I like the winter months a lot and I always spent more time outside than I ever did inside when there was snow on the ground as a kid and I still do. Nowadays I just don't have the same kind of time, and the name stuck with me."

Aster hummed. "And then there's the matter of your prankster reputation."

"Okay yeah that? Has it's reasons, and I can promise you that I haven't done anything to earn that rep myself in a _long_ time now."

"Yourself? What-?"

Jack's pocket started vibrating and the tunes of The Walking Dead theme song started playing. Saved by the phone.

It wasn't that Jack didn't want Aster to know, it was just that he didn't like talking about it much. He liked telling people things that made him uncomfortable in his own time, thank you very much.

"And that would be my sister about dinner. Which I have yet to start.", Jack grimaced and pushed the button to receive the call.

"Your sister.", Aster was staring blankly at him.

"Dude you hang out with her more and you'll understand why- oh hey there lil sis!", Jack chirped when there was a noise of indignation in his ear.

_"I hate you and your inability to do as I ask."_

"What do you mean? The PO plan went perfectly.", even as he said this he was heading toward the door to go to his own house.

A fed Emma was a happy Emma, and when Emma was _un_ happy... well. Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

_"Oh great! You still have to make dinner for us."_

Jack winced, shooting Aster a helpless expression, the man having followed him into the garden. "It's us now?"

_"Well yeah, were you really expecting me to send everyone home from the pond without a meal?"_

"Ugh!", he grunted loudly into the receiver and hung up. "Oh goodie, I get to go feed the monsters..."

Aster chuckled. "Have fun with that."

Jack grumbled about unhelpful friends and smug-looking Aussies as he stepped over the fence and went into his house through the back door.

 

* * *

 

 An exhibition would be nice. Though there was no telling whether the people who came to it would be able to fully appreciate his work, but hopefully he'd get at least one painting sold.

Aster kept catching himself staring at his Moon Lake piece, the one Jack had gazed upon and even touched so reverently. It was the way he dreamt of people seeing his art, like they weren't just looking at a piece of fabric or paper and some paint on it, but like it was something more. Like they couldn't take their eyes off it because for the moments they were looking at it, it was real.

That was how Jack had looked at it, then. And Aster thought he could live off the warmth that brought him for years to come.

He found himself sketching up more wintery scenes, and he told himself it wasn't because of Frost, North said he held seasonal exhibitions so there would be a winter themed one later in the year.

It caught him completely by surprise, when about a week and a half after his new rosebushes had been delicately put in the dirt, Pitch called.

_"So I hear you need a paying job."_

Aster sighed and rubbed at the space between his eyebrows. That tone. It was the knowing, scheming one that he decidedly _did not_ like.

"Maybe, what's it to you?"

_"Well I have something here that you'd be good at, and fairly effortlessly as well."_

Oh no, there was the buttering up part.

"Koz, I really don't-"

_"We have a position here at the high school that I think may be of interest to you."_

The high school?

Aster scowled, even if the other party of the conversation couldn't see it. "What is it?"

_"Have you ever considered teaching art?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh, this feels insufficient considering how long it took me. But oh well.  
> How did I finish this in the middle of the night even.


	9. Chapter Nio

Art teacher.

What the bleeding hell had he gotten himself into now.

Aster was unable to comprehend much of anything at the moment, so he just… left his house. A walk was a good idea. Preferably a long one, with little to no other human contact whatsoever.

What the hell was his life coming to?

He’d been forced to spend the weekend in meetings with officials and talk to the principal, and Pitch was there for the duration of it all with that smug bloody sneer playing at his lips. Now he was meant to start teaching art to a bunch of teenagers. Kozmotis was going to pay for this. He was. As soon as Aster thought of a fitting punishment. For the time being he supposed he could try the teaching gig, it was something that most of his class at college had become, seeing as very few actually make it in the artist business.

If the kids annoyed him he could always entertain himself with scaring them to death with stories from Down Under.

Heh.

That could make it more interesting, and oh! He could make them do aboriginal dot painting. Thinking about it, he hadn’t done that himself in an age.

Maybe this could be fun, just maybe. Especially if he could come up with assignments he knew they wouldn’t get right, of course he wouldn’t give them failing grades for being generally bad but it could be amusing to see nonetheless.

He was just turning up on his street to head back home after walking halfway around Burgess, and there was a pleasant burn in his muscles that was comforting in a way, when a voice called out to him.

“Mr. Bunnymund!”

Turning his head ever so slightly and then promptly putting on a burst of speed when he saw who it was, and of all the people who had to spot him _it was that one_.

“Mr. Bunnymund!”, a forty-something woman sidled up to him, geared up head to toe in a jogging outfit with hideous colors and bleached hair and that tan really wasn’t as attractive as she may think.

Perfect example of all the people in this town and the _world_ that he wanted to avoid at all cost.

“’Lo Mrs. Harper.”, he greeted smoothly, it was amazing that none of his current stiffness bled into his voice.

“ _Please_ , just Anna- _May_ darling.”, she replied and _smiled_. It was rather extraordinary that all the makeup she had slathered on didn’t crack with the sheer viciousness in her expression. “Out jogging too?"

“Walking, and just heading home now, so if you’ll excuse me.”, Aster said and gestured ahead of them, trying to lose _the_ _woman_ by walking faster and _praying_ that she didn’t follow.

It wasn’t that she was completely unattractive; she was fairly good-looking he had to admit, but she was… for lack of a better way to put it, she was downright _scary_. He didn’t like the way she looked predatorily at him every time she saw him and how she would speak to other people at times when he was around, like she was some regal lady from the Victorian era. Made him shudder and want to hide in a closet somewhere.

“Oh really? I don’t believe I’ve actually been to your house yet, how very rude of me.”, Anna- _May_ purred and damn it all she was walking alongside him with that fucking _leer_.

 Aster grunted, so no getting away. Like hell he was going to make this pursuit easy for her. “I don’t tend to invite yobbos(*) I’m not familiar with home, so that’s not very strange.”

The woman blinked, and then gave a very _obviously_ fake laugh. "Your little Australian slang is so _sweet_ hun, but you might want to adopt a more... _civilized_ way of speaking if you want to make it in this town."

What. What did she just say? _Sweet_? **Civilized**?!

"But keep the accent, I like it."

He felt the overwhelming need to pummel something. Or some _one_. Staying silent, he stopped abruptly and just glared down at her. Damn but she was tiny, wasn't she. He could easily just pick her up and _throw_ her down the street and _far_ away from him.

But that would be bad, wouldn't it? He had a hard time thinking of exactly _why_ that would be bad at the time, though.

"Why are we stopping here?", Anna-May scrunched her nose up, grimacing at something behind him. "You really shouldn't be mixing with _them_."

Aster turned to see that he had stopped right outside the Overland house. Well. That... was not what he'd been aiming for, but it would do. Wait, what?

"Whaddya mean, 'shouldn't be mixing with them'?", he reiterated and scowled with his hands on his hips.

Anna-May sneered. "You don't know, do you? Well, allow me to educate you. The Overland's are menaces who seem to attract misfortune. You don't want to get caught in their stream of misery, do you?"

"What-?"

There was an excited bark and both adults jumped at the sound, and then Aster had a happy Baby hopping and bouncing around him and then up the front lawn of Jack and Emma's house.

"Well now I get why she was so excited to get back.", a worn out sounding voice said, and when Aster  looked up from the elated dog his eyes landed on a sweaty Jack wearing sweatpants and a blue tank top. "It's kind of amazing that she likes you that much already, and _hi_ Anna!"

Aster was torn between marveling at the revelation that Baby liked him well enough to rush to meet him, and the sudden higher pitch of Jack's voice. The white-haired man sounded rather like... he wanted to spit venom in Anna-May's face, or was that Aster's imagination?

"Hello Jackson, we missed you at the Midsummer's Eve Founder's Ball.", she said in a sickly sweet voice that spelled nothing but contempt.

Jack's entire countenance darkened significantly with something Aster couldn't quite put his finger on. Hatred, perhaps?

"Yes well you know, _someone_ has to work.", he nodded at her pointedly and went to stand between her and his house.

It was brief, but Anna-May bristled a bit. "Ah yes. Do excuse me dear, I'd love to stay and chat but Aster was just showing me his lovely home."

And the attention was back on him. Marvelous.

"He was?", Jack raised an eyebrow, gaining a more amused look.

Aster shot the other man a slightly panicked glance. "I really don't think I have time at the momen-"

"Nonsense! You'll always have time for me!", Anna-May chirped and made to grab for Aster's arm, but he yanked it away and stepped back towards Jack at the last second.

"Actually he doesn't have time."

Two heads snapped to stare at Jack, one bewildered and mildly hopeful looking, and the other incredulous and very near to fuming.

"He doesn't?", Anna-May repeated.

_I don't?_ Aster wanted to ask, but he held his tongue. If Jack had an out for him from this... she-devil of a human being then he was all for it.

"No, he promised to fix my bedroom door, it's crooked and barely hanging onto its hinges. Unless you suddenly stopped being the helpful neighborhood handyman?"

"No I did not.", Aster let one of the corners of his lips turn upwards. "I did promise you that, and I'm a man of my word."

Anna-May clearly wasn't buying it, but Aster didn't care as he followed  Jack up the path towards the Overland house. The woman left down the street with a huff.

 

* * *

 

 The lie was horrifically transparent, but Jack couldn't let his sister's new buddy suffer the terror that was Mrs. Anna-May Harper making moves on him. Once they were safely inside he went straight to kitchen to give Baby a piece of crisp bread that she promptly devoured.

At Aster odd look Jack shrugged. "She has a thing for it."

The other man just raised an eyebrow and shuffled his feet in the doorway.

"Dude chill, come in and sit down. I was just gonna start dinner."

"Oh. I don't want to impose..."

"You're not imposing if I invited you man, and I did, so sit down and watch the master work.", Jack pointed at the kitchen table and started pulling items out of the pantry.

Aster chuckled and surprisingly did as told. "The master eh? What is the master making then?"

"The master is making pizza, because the kiddies ordered it for their last day of freedom before school starts up again. And we should stop referring to me like that, it's getting weird.", Jack laughed and fetched a sufficiently large bowl.

With one more to feed he had to make more of _everything_. Well. It was a good thing he enjoyed cooking.

"Pizza, huh?", Aster sounded less than impressed.

"Hey man if you don't want to be fed, I'm cool with it.", Jack teased and began mixing ingredients  together for the dough.

The man held his hands up in mock surrender, smirking pleasantly. "Alright, I'm not one to turn down free dinnies."

Jack snorted just as excited chattering could be heard fast approaching from the front of the house, and the next minute a group of hyped up teenagers tumbled in. Soaking.

"God damn it Emma! Get your asses outside and dry off before you get the entire house drenched!", Jack hollered even as he was mixing his whitish-beige concoction into an actual dough.

The responding group groan that resounded from the entrance of the house was pretty hilarious. Maybe he didn't need to be so harsh, but it was kind of fun to see and/or hear their reactions. Sometimes they acted so ridiculous that he had to sit down before he started rolling all over the floor laughing. Teenagers, really.

Also, he was _not_ cleaning up after them. Again. _Nope_.

"You're worse than my mother, Jack. Oh _hey_ Mr. Bunnymund?", Jamie entered the kitchen first, and his face went from exasperated incredulity to surprise and then finally settled on confusion.

"Bunny's here?!", came his sister's shriek and she stumbled into the doorframe. "Ow! Hi, Bunny! You're here?"

Aster tried to hide his flinching every time the nickname was used, but Jack saw it and he could sympathize. There were some things people still called him from when he was a kid, and he had grown fond of the Frost one over the years. Some of the others, not so much.

"I just rescued him from the Cougar Queen, and dude. You really oughta just, _not_ talk to her at all if you can help it. Her voice alone is like listening to poison.", Jack grimaced and shuddered.

The other man made a similar face to Jack's. "Trust me, I'm _aware_."

"She was here? In _our_ neighborhood? I'm _shocked_ she dared to after the past winter's little incident.", Emma sneered, shooting a wink at Jack and sat down next to Aster.

"Incident?", Aster raised one eyebrow at the other man.

Jack ducked his head, putting the dough on the counter to knead it. "She may have come to our house for some drama and we had gotten a lot of snow, so I was up on the roof pushing it down and I'd told everyone to steer clear while I did that."

That had been both hilarious and kind of sad to watch, the scream the woman had let out when she got a massive pile of snow dumped on her head had been _priceless_.

The Australian snorted a laugh. "That must've made quite the sight."

"Her running screeching away from my house? One of the most gratifying moments of my life to be honest.", Jack grinned at Aster over his shoulder, just managing to catch Jamie before the teenager had gotten far enough to steal the flour. "And what do you think you're doing there young man?"

Jamie chuckled nervously. "I was just-"

The brown-haired teen got himself a face full of flour. Jack couldn't help himself. That, and Jamie had been gunning for the exact same thing just seconds before and Jack hated not being the one to initiate a prank war of any kind. Or flour fight, in this case.

Which is what it turned into, because Jamie blinked the white powder away, grinned and declared war. On the entire kitchen.

It wound up becoming a divide of the teenagers occupying one side of the kitchen table, while Jack and Aster were on the other. The two of them were totally kicking ass, though Jack had no idea how the fuck they managed that.

The whole thing ended when Baby decided to join, and then she was covered in flour so Jack sent Emma, Cupcake and the twins outside to wash her off.

"Well that was fun.", Jack said, trying to rub the white powder off his face and sneezing for his troubles.

"I'm not even sure why I participated.", Aster muttered, but there was an obvious amused note to his voice.

"Cause Emma showed a handful of flour in your face?", the eldest Overland supplied helpfully.

"Ah, yes. That would be it."

"Not to ruin the mood or anything.", Jamie coughed, a little cloud of white dust coming out of his mouth. "But uh, will there be food any time soon?"

Jack glowered at the younger man. "You're cleaning the kitchen before you get any food. _All of you_."

"What?! But- You- That's not fair!"

"I'm making the food dude, if you don't like my terms you can eat at home."

Jamie grumbled, but he still located the cleaning supplies and the remaining teenagers in the kitchen mirrored his actions. Albeit _very_ grouchily.

"Run a tight shop, do you?", Aster leaned against the counter where Jack was fixing the dough into something resembling flatness.

It was amazing that the dough was allowed to rise at all during the flour war. Fight?

"With these guys? I have to. No, correction: if I didn't they'd be off doing who knows what and pissing their parents off in various ways. Who even knows. Honestly I don't even understand why they stick around, but I don't mind them being here as much as I probably should.", Jack's voice had gone softer, and when he looked up he realized how close Aster had leant simply to hear what he was saying.

The other man seemed to have the same bit of realization and quickly straightened back up.

"Well, kids tend to stick to what's familiar and comfortable.", Aster mumbled, scratching his nose with an index finger.

"Huh. That's a nice sentiment...", Jack smiled while he distributed the pizza sauce and different toppings on the several little round pieces of dough he'd made.

Aster cleared his throat, and visibly steeled himself for whatever he was about to say. "Uh, I got a new job, by the way."

That was... _good_. Yeah, that was good. Good for Aster.

"Oh yeah? That's great! What'd you get?"

"Art teacher. At the high school."

Jack choked on his own spit, and he could hear the teenagers in the room did about the same.

"Really? Uh... That's. Good?"

Aster glared at _all_ of them. "It's not like I have a lot to choose from at the moment, and I don't know. It seemed like a good idea when I accepted the offer from Koz."

"Pitch did-? Oh dude, dude it's a trap."

"It's-? Why is it a trap? What?"

Jack laughed, really just started laughing. He was still hiccupping a little when he finally answered.

"He's tricked most of us into guest appearances at the school. I feel so bad for you man, I really do."

"What? I'm just going to be there to teach art to the kids. That's it."

Jack gave him a _look_. " _Sure_ , you just keep telling yourself that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am such a horrible person.  
> So less frequent updates, but I'm trying to make them longer. Dunno how successful I am really.  
> I also would like to say that I'm still very open to requests for shenanigans and THINGS to come up next.


End file.
